


Cold Butler

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Illnesses, Invisible Kingdom | Revelation Route, Jakob being Jakob and not taking a break, Romance, Slight alteration of the S Support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 06:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7833412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corrin always knew that Jakob forced himself into showing his undying loyalty to her, which involved him working even when ill.<br/>She wasn't going to allow him to keep doing that, even if it meant losing her most loyal butler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Butler

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. I got the idea for this about a week or so ago, but I only got the ideas to flesh it out a few hours ago...  
> Hah, almost 4000 words in about two/three hours... I wouldn't be surprised if it sounds rushed too lmao.  
> But I have mentioned before now that Jakob is best husband? Right? RIGHT????

_A gust of cold wind gushed past the princess and butler, the former being shielded by the latter. It hadn’t been the first time such a thing had happened during the battle, and there was no doubt that it would happen again. They could hardly get close enough to Flora to try and force her to stop, and no amount of begging for her to cease had worked._

“ _Jakob… We’re going to have to pull back soon!” Corrin was clinging onto her butler’s arm, struggling to keep her footing in the harsh conditions. That was one of the few problems with preferring to go barefoot when in battle – ice was horrible to try and stay stood still on. “The only chance the two of us could have to get close to her is if we had Felicia on our side, but who knows where she is! We can’t risk falling ill because of these temperatures too...” Her fingers began to dig into his sleeve, making it difficult for Jakob to even try to pull out or throw a dagger. “It might be best to leave Flora to Saizo...”_

* * *

Kaze was staring at Jakob from the shadows, watching his every movement and keeping note of anything which seemed out of the ordinary. He wasn’t doing it out of suspicion, but rather on the request of Corrin. About half of the people in the army had succumbed to a strange illness known only to the Ice Tribe and few others, despite the only exposure they had to the powers of the tribe was with the frozen oceans. Jakob had a _lot_ more exposure than the others, hence why he was secretly being monitored.

Corrin had been lucky enough to escape illness, because of her accelerated heart rate; not to mention because of an immunity she had developed to Ice Tribe illnesses due to the sheer amount of times she had been awakened through the use of Felicia and Flora’s powers. Jakob had _never_ been exposed to their powers in such a way.

All in all, the butler seemed to be coping just as he usually would, and was carrying out his usual tasks. Making tea for Corrin three times a day unless they were engaged in a skirmish against faceless; cleaning all of Corrin’s sheets and linens; working shifts at the different shops and buildings at the astral castle depending on the day it happened to be; accompanying Corrin whenever she wanted to leave the castle; and also taking a moment for himself, typically on Corrin’s orders. Kaze wasn’t exactly sure on as to why Corrin had asked for him to keep an eye on him in all honesty.

Before he left to inform the princess of Jakob’s normal status, the sound of a sneeze preceding a cup smashing on the floor caught his attention.

“Ah! Oh no, this will not do _at all!”_ The silver-haired man was _not_ looking happy at all. “Now I must make Lady Corrin another drink of tea! How shameful it is to have messed up such a mediocre task! I must not allow myself to fall to such low standards!” A few similar sorts of grumbles were made, before Jakob then went and cleaned up the mess he had made.

One thought was going through Kaze’s mind at that time – perhaps there was something wrong with the butler after all. Jakob would have never done something such as that if he were well.

Before Jakob could begin to make another drink of tea, the ninja quickly took his leave in order to report back to the princess. How long had Jakob been like this though? One week had passed since the battle against Camilla and Flora, so one of two things must have happened. One was that the illness had taken its time to kick in, the other was that he had caught another completely different passing illness.

Corrin was not surprised in the slightest when it came to Kaze telling her about Jakob’s incident. “When we were younger… He would always work whenever he fell ill. Gunter would tell him to stop repeatedly, but he would continue working to the point of him collapsing,” She explained to her other retainer once he had spoke to her about what had happened, before she sighed. “One time he was taken ill, he ended up collapsing onto me when he was helping me neaten out my hair…” Following that, she had began to run her hands down her hair, almost as if in memory of that event. “I thought at first he was trying to hug me because of the way that he fell… But when I heard his breathing, I realised that wasn’t the case.”

Now Corrin had jumped up from her seat, and walked over to the door of her treehouse, and she beckoned for Kaze to follow her. It was obvious that she was going to try and find Jakob, and try to talk him out of working for her for a short while. It was at that moment that the door had opened, and they both knew that it would be the butler.

_It wasn’t._

Sakura was stood in the doorway, looking extremely worried. “U-Um… Big sister, we have a problem… P- Princess Camilla and Takumi said to- to get you as quickly as possible!” The youngest Hoshidan royal quickly took hold of Corrin’s hand, tears welling up. “C- Come on…”

* * *

“ _Take the Ice Tribe into hiding then, Flora… I promise though, if you ever want to return here, feel free to. You’ve always got a place here!” Corrin smiled, diving at the maid for a hug. “I know that I can trust you, and I know that this wasn’t your fault, just as it isn’t Camilla’s. It’s all Garon’s fault...”_

_Flora was quite taken aback for a moment, before returning the embrace. “I appreciate that, Lady Corrin… If I ever feel as though I am worthy enough to work for you once more, I shall take you up on your offer.” Slowly, Flora stepped back, and then looked directly as Jakob. “Look after Lady Corrin. Protect her with your life. Just like old times...”_

_The butler nodded, before he placed a hand upon Corrin’s shoulder. “My life is dedicated to Lady Corrin, and you out of anyone should be aware of that, Flora. If I ever were to die, it would be because I lay it down for her.” It was when he said that when Corrin looked at him with a slight face of fear. “O- Of course, I shall not die if my lady wishes for me to stay with her...”_

_Corrin smiled gently at that, before slowly taking hold of Jakob’s arm and resting her head on his shoulder. She was glad to have somebody so fiercely loyal on her side, and that even if she ended up on her own, Jakob would end up back at her side once more. After having spent almost their entire lives together, she had no idea if she would even be able to cope if he ended up dying, especially if he had died protecting her._

* * *

Jakob had smashed a cup. Burned his hand on a completely different pot of tea. Walked into a doorway. Tore his shirt.

He was quickly beginning to fall apart, and all because of a strange dizziness which had took hold of him that morning. Despite that, he had no intention of allowing it to take hold of him completely – he was far too dedicated to care for Corrin to allow something such as that to defeat him, and hadn’t been afraid to tell Flora. He was _not_ going to let this defeat him, and allow his loyalty to come into question.

Hastily, he looked at the pot of tea which remained motionless on the tray, made sure that the cup was not close to the edge, and he made sure to closely watch his surroundings to prevent any more injuries or tears in his clothing. This tea was getting to Corrin no matter what, and he was determined to keep himself looking as pristine as he could.

Unfortunately, the drink of tea never made it anywhere close to Corrin’s treehouse, and neither did he.

A wave of light-headedness came over him as he got outside, and the brightness of the sun made his eyes hurt. The stones on the path beneath him felt as though they were digging into the soles of his footwear, and stabbing at his feet. It wasn’t long before he fell to his knees, and watched as everything he had tried to avoid happened.

That was when Takumi had caught sight of him on the floor, his breathing ragged and skin pale. Moments later, Camilla and Sakura, who had been doing their best to converse with one another, ended up seeing Takumi try to pick the butler up from the ground. Corrin was sent for moments later.

Once Sakura had been able to get Corrin, and pull her to where Jakob had collapsed, Takumi had only been able to prop him up against a tree whilst Camilla picked up the smashed ceramic of a cup and placed them on the discarded tray.

“Oh gods… I knew that I was right to think that something was wrong with Jakob!” Corrin quickly ran over to her butler, and placed her hands on his cheeks. “What happened? Are you hurt?” She whispered, carefully pulling Jakob’s arm over her shoulder and gesturing for Takumi to allow her to support him completely. “Jakob?...”

“I am _fine_ , Lady Corrin… I promise you, I am...” Jakob felt Corrin wrap his arms around her neck, before he felt the strange warmth which occurred every time she transformed near him. The feeling of her scaled skin underneath him was both strange yet comforting. “… Fine… Perfectly… fine...” He slowly began to feel nothing but coldness surround his body. A startled cry from Corrin was the last thing that he heard.

* * *

“ _Hey… Do you think that I can go outside soon, Jakob?” A young Corrin grinned, her crimson eyes locking into his greyish ones. “It’s so… boring here!” She stretched her arms out, and then fell back onto her bed. “Also, the big old meanie Gunter doesn’t even let you outside often! We’re fourteen now! We can go out if we want, right?”_

_The young Jakob felt something catching in his throat, before looking at how Corrin began to mess with her hair. She was a very pretty girl in his eyes, with her long white hair and cute black hair bows (which he had gifted her for her most recent birthday), alongside elegant little dresses which flowed around and made her seem as though she was something more than royalty. On top of that, he loved her pointed ears, as they were one of her very unique features. He wasn’t surprised over his attraction to her though, she was probably the only female in his life besides the ten year old Elise and nineteen year old Camilla, not to mention that she was the exact same age as him. Well, there was also Felicia and Flora… But they had only been at the fortress for a single week._

“ _Jakob? Do you want to lie down next to me? Gunter did say to take a little break because you’re still feeling a bit ill…” Corrin sat up then, and took hold of the young butler’s hands. “I’ll look after you! I can keep you warm, and make sure that you don’t get a worse fever!” He was hardly given a chance to react as Corrin pulled him down into her bed, before she carefully placed her blanket over him. “Nurse Corrin reporting for duty!”_

_Her smile was so innocent and her intentions so pure, he couldn’t help but smile back._

“ _Right… First of all, your hair is sticking to your neck! That can’t be good at all!” Corrin stated, bringing her finger to her lips as she began to come up with an idea. “Ah! I know!” She jumped up to her feet, before running over to her dressing table. After digging around for a moment, she took hold of something and clambered back up onto the bed. “Sit up for a second!”_

_Once Jakob had done as she had requested, she then reached behind him and took hold of his hair. Corrin did end up tugging quite a bit unintentionally, but he was very relieved at the end when his neck felt much more exposed to the cold fortress air._

“ _I, um… Tied up your hair with my favourite purple ribbon… You can keep it if you want, to tie up your hair when it’s getting all over the place! I have a lot of ribbons, so it doesn’t matter if I’m missing one…” She then took hold of his shoulders, and made him lie down again. “Right, what else do I need to do to help you feel better...”_

“ _L- Lady Corrin, you don’t have to-!”_

“ _Shush, Jakob! I’m in charge here, so I can look after you if I want to!” Corrin mumbled, before she placed her hand on his head. “You still have a fever… I can make it feel a bit better!” Surprisingly, she then pushed some of her hair to behind her ears before leaning down and pressing her lips to his forehead. “Camilla and Xander do that whenever I have a fever, and it helps me feel a lot better...”_

_Corrin’s doting over him continued for a good twenty minutes or so, until he began to drift asleep. The last thing that he felt was another kiss to his forehead, and her arms around him._

_When he woke up, he noticed that Corrin had fell asleep on top of her blankets, and her arms had him pulled close to her body whilst he remained under the blanket._

“ _O- Oh gods, this is so inappropriate...” He whispered under his breath when he noticed how they were both lay, despite the layers separating them, before he hastily yet gently separated himself from her. He had to admit, he felt much better than he had done previously… But what on earth was she thinking, allowing them both, a pair of hormonal teenagers, to lie down together in the same bed?! If Gunter had seen such a thing, he would be sent away almost instantly without so much as a goodbye!_

_Corrin mumbled something incoherent under her breath once he reached the door, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you for looking after me, Lady Corrin...”_

_He quickly left, and that was when a sigh echoed around her room. “He still looked so ill...”_

* * *

Jakob’s eyes shot open after the strange dream of the past, and tried to get a grasp of his surroundings through his blurred sight. There were red blankets covering him, and a similar coloured pillow underneath his head. He also noticed that he had been stripped down to his shirt and trousers, the first garment having been unbuttoned a slight bit. The rest of his butler uniform appeared to be neatly folded on a nearby seat, and on top of them seemed to be something blue, with an edge of it being a slight bit frayed... almost like Corrin's cloak.

He did his best to move around in order to understand his surroundings more, but something was keeping him held down to the spot.

“Jakob… Calm down, okay?…” The voice which he could hear was so soothing, and so calm… He ended up relaxing almost instantly. “Good… I am so glad that you have woke up now, I was really worried...” A gentle hand moved to rest on his cheek, before he felt his head get turned a slight bit. Before he realised what his situation was, a soft kiss was planted on his nose as the sound of choked back tears filled the room. “I was scared that I was going to lose you! How would Gunter react if he found out that you had succumbed to an illness? What would Flora say if you died, but not trying to protect me? Would Felicia even be able to cope without somebody such as you to guide her?”

His vision began to clear up as the sobbing continued, and he noticed that it was Corrin who had been tending to him. Her eyes were sore and puffy through crying, making it seem as though this hadn’t been the first time, and on top of that, she was an absolute mess.

“Jakob… I’m not letting you do what you did last time either. You’re not leaving whilst you’re still ill… I am caring for you until you are one-hundred percent better, understand?” Corrin ended up hugging him then, her fingers digging into his back. “I love you too much to let you do this to yourself…” Now the sound of a shaky laugh filled the room. “Why else would I have looked after you how I did when we were younger and you were ill? Jakob, I _loved you_ too much to see you suffer… You were always there for me, so I had to be there for you...”

Slowly, Jakob began to feel tears in his own eyes, and he found himself returning the princess’ embrace. He wanted to say that he understood where she was coming from, for his own love fuelled his undying loyalty to her, but his throat was far too dry. _How long had he been lying in Corrin’s bed for?_

“Um… Here, I think you should have some of this...” Corrin then reached to a bedside table, and took hold of a cup which was there. “I made it for you… I spent hours cooped up in the mess hall and in the hall of records for this, not to mention spent a long time with Sakura and Camilla making sure that it was just right…” She used one of her hands to help the butler sit up, before placing the cup in his hands. “It’s a medicinal tea… We tried it out with a few other people who ended up ill with the same thing too, and it really helped… It turns out that unlike normal tea, I am really good at making this kind!” Corrin was smiling now, and Jakob couldn’t help but smile back.

Not wanting to disappoint, Jakob slowly brought the cup to his lips because of how his arms felt heavy and weak still, before taking a sip. There was hints of lemon alongside a slight sweet hint of something such as cinnamon, and there was a few other subtle tastes which were quite satisfying in his mouth. The warmth of the tea was just right too. _How had she been able to make a close to perfect cup of tea without his help? She was normally terrible!_

“I say… You might have to teach me how to make this tea, Lady Corrin...” He was finally able to say after a few sips, and then he weakly smiled at her once more. “I can see how it assisted other people’s recoveries…” Following that, Jakob finished the tea and placed it back where she had picked it up from. “Thank you, my lady… I owe you my gratitude… It is such a shame that this can no longer continue.” What he finished with made Corrin freeze, and she had a look of horror covering her face. “I can no longer serve as your butler… And that means that you no longer have any need to look after me.”

“No, Jakob… Shut up. D- Don’t say things like-!”

Jakob began to feel a headache coming on from what he was saying, but not because of the illness he possessed. “Lady Corrin… You do realise that it is unheard of for a princess to fall in love with her butler...” He whispered in reference to what she had said earlier about loving him too much, before taking a moment to catch his breath. This illness also seemed to have some sort of chesty symptoms too. “A- and unheard of for said butler to return those feelings?...” he finished, before closing his eyes. “Lady Corrin, please… It is best for you if-!”

Corrin was quite taken aback then, before she began to stroke his hair and placed a hand against his forehead, just to make sure that his fever hadn’t become any worse. “You _return_ those feelings?… Jakob, that is more than enough reason for you to no longer have a position as a butler.. Effective immediately too.” Her voice had suddenly become cold and distant, but her face was filled to the brim with emotion. Suddenly, she grabbed hold of him tightly, sending him falling back into the bed with her. “Yes, it is unheard of for a princess and butler to be in love… Such a shame that you happen not to be my butler any more.”

Shock filled Jakob’s face at her words, and it was a matter of seconds before he was bawling his eyes out. That was a bit of a problem when he was ill… He didn’t have much control over his emotions. “I- I love you, I have been wanting to say it every day for months, l- lady Corrin, but-!”

“You can say it every day for the rest of your life, if you want… I love you too, Jakob...”

* * *

“ _Say, um… Jakob?”_

“ _What is it, Felicia? I am very busy, I have duties to perform for Lady Corrin immediately. We have to leave the fortress in a few minutes, to make a move to castle Krakenburg.”_

_The clumsy maid brought her hands to her chest, before taking a deep breath. “I just wonder… Do you love Lady Corrin? You seem so loyal to her, and you are trusted with duties that normally wouldn’t be assigned to butlers, but maids instead… You even get to accompany her as she goes to live with her family!”_

“ _You wish to know if I love Lady Corrin?” Jakob turned to face Felicia, his face as unwelcoming as usual, and seemingly frozen into a look of disapproval, but surprisingly, it softened into a smile of happiness. “Of course.”_


End file.
